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Kris Srikkanth has attributed India’s climb to the top of the Test rankings to their balance and depth with both bat and ball

Cricinfo staff08-Dec-2009Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of the BCCI’s selection panel, has attributed India’s climb to the top of the Test rankings to their balance and depth with both bat and ball, and their ability to finish off games after gaining the advantage.Srikkanth said India’s batting line-up was the best around, and had displayed a tendency to withstand early setbacks with players down the order stepping up. “This is the best top-seven in the world,” Srikkanth told the . “This line-up has aggressive players such as Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The side also has Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman who are very solid.”Srikkanth spoke of India’s resilience in the Napier Test earlier in the year, when, after following on and losing Virender Sehwag early, they batted close to two full days, losing just four wickets, to save the game and preserve India’s lead in the series. “When India began its second innings 314 runs behind New Zealand in the Napier Test last season, the batsmen led by Gambhir and Laxman batted with great resolve to save the Test,” he said.And yet, when the opportunity was there to force a win, like in Chennai against England, where Sehwag set the tone with a blistering 83 and Tendulkar guided India home with a rare fourth-innings century, they took full advantage. “If you had seen the conditions for batting in the fourth innings, it was an incredible chase. The side believes in itself,” Srikkanth said.Srikkanth also lauded M Vijay, the Tamil Nadu opener, who replaced Gautam Gambhir in two Tests, against Australia in Nagpur and Sri Lanka in Mumbai, and impressed with 161 runs, giving Sehwag solid support. “On two occasions in Nagpur against the Australians and here, Vijay has batted really well,” he said.The variety in the bowling attack and the ability to take 20 wickets, even on tracks where assistance was minimal, was another crucial factor in India’s success, Srikkanth said. “Everyone said the pitch was flat against Australia at Mohali last year. But Zaheer and Ishant made inroads into the line-up.”We have variety, right and left-arm bowlers, pace men and spinners in contrasting styles. The pace men have struck telling blows with the new and the old ball. Harbhajan Singh is an experienced campaigner now. Both Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra are promising spinners. You got to give them time.”The contribution of former captains Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, Srikkanth added, was also critical. “The side has been consistent and delivered away from home. We have to acknowledge the contribution of Ganguly, who made the side believe in itself. Someone like Kumble brought great value and commitment to the side.”

The term was appropriate after his side was bundled out for 228 and 187 on Saturday to tumble to an innings-and-65-run defeat

Peter English at the Gabba28-Nov-2009Chris Gayle doesn’t waste energy or words and was quick to call West Indies’ three-day defeat at the Gabba a “disaster”. The term was appropriate after his side was bundled out for 228 and 187 on Saturday to tumble to an innings-and-65-run embarrassment that gave Australia a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.”It’s a must-turnaround situation that we’re in,” Gayle said. “Two matches to go, so hopefully we can rebound from this disaster, this loss in three days. We have to look for positives.”Adrian Barath’s hundred stood miles ahead, Travis Dowlin’s first-innings 62 was useful and Denesh Ramdin had a strong game with bat and gloves, but there was little else to encourage the tourists. Fifteen wickets fell on the third day as the game was handed over due to Australia’s varied attack and some poor shot selection.”I’m very disappointed at the batting in both innings, they didn’t come off,” Gayle said. “Apart from Adrian and his second-innings century, a brilliant innings, he batted well and showed a lot of character.”Despite the struggles of this game and the bitter players’ strike, Gayle has no plans to seek an easy way out of his captaincy. He showed his belief in the team and Test cricket by flying back from Jamaica, where he visited his sick mother, in time for the match, but after the contest finished it was hard to tell whether he was still suffering from jet-lag or in despair at the defeat.”The captain don’t want to lose,” he said. “You have to be strong in this situation, have to be a strong individual. Try and uplift the players and encourage them and lift your game as well. It’s a tough situation and I’ve been around a long time as well to handle this situation. I’m not thinking down that path [of stepping down] at this point of time.”Ricky Ponting will hold his assessment of West Indies until after Adelaide following another win on a ground where Australia haven’t lost since 1988-89. “There is no team that comes here and performs well, simple as that,” he said. “It’s 21 years since we’ve lost a game here. And they’re not at full strength.”The pitch was excellent for the run-makers if they could cope with the bounce, but the visitors struggled, feeding the slips with catches as well as making bad mistakes, such as Dwayne Bravo’s hooking of Michael Hussey to the only man in the deep. “We have ourselves to blame,” Gayle said, “so go back to the nets and rebuild for the second Test.” That game starts on Friday and the extra time may help Jerome Taylor to recover from a back strain that limited him to nine overs on the first day.Taylor has had a scan and Gayle said they would wait on him and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who suffered a back injury at training the day before the game. “Keep our fingers crossed, hopefully [Sarwan] will be ready for the second Test,” he said. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

About ten minutes into the morning’s play, the theme for the day had become visible and about six hours later, you were left a bit surprised that Karnataka didn’t have to veer away from Plan A

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera in Mysore24-Dec-2009
Scorecard
Vishwas Bhalla provided some spirited resistance lower down the order for Punjab•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

About ten minutes into the morning’s play, the theme for the day had become visible and about six hours later, you were left a bit surprised that Karnataka didn’t have to veer away from Plan A. They set out to test the batsmen with short deliveries on a pitch that had bounce and barring some spirited resistance from Uday Kaul in the middle order and Vishwas Bhalla lower down, Punjab surrendered without much fight. The only moments that Karnataka were forced to rethink came when Bhalla was batting with the tail. However, they persisted with short deliveries and Bhalla pushed Punjab towards 300 with the help of some brave swings to the on side.However, for the main part, the simple plan to bowl short proved very effective and it left you wondering about the quality of batting in the domestic circuit. The pitch was hard and bouncy but there was no alarming movement – but it was enough to trouble Punjab, who should be, in actuality, used to playing on a bouncy track back home.The first session saw several pointers to the day’s play. The Punjab physio came out twice to treat bruised fingers and sore thighs, the ball was hardly driven past the bowler, the slip cordon was always crowded, the short leg was ever present and Karnataka, it seemed, were never far away from taking a wicket.Abhimanyu Mithun deployed what is known as a ‘heavy ball’ in cricketing terminology and Vinay Kumar extracted bounce from short of length as the Punjab top order did not seem to learn from their mistakes. They hung out the bat away from the body, fended ungainly and didn’t attack or defend with confidence. Weak-hearted attempts at the pull and uncertain leaves were the feature of the day and though the runs kept coming at a handy rate, the wickets too were always around the corner.Sunny Sohal was troubled by bounce, Ravi Inder Singh and Mayank Sidhana collected a few boundaries with slashes and punchy drives but never looked in, and all three fell in the opening session without much fight. Sohal and Inder Singh fended away bouncers from Mithun to gully and short leg respectively and Mayank, after pushed back with short deliveries, flicked Vinay Kumar straight to square leg.The second session too wasn’t too different. The bounce wasn’t as much as with the new ball in the morning but it was enough to extract more mistakes. Taruwar Kohli and Pankaj Dharmani stabbed short-of-length deliveries to an alert Manish Pandey at second slip and Uday Kaul fell, edging an intended off drive against Sunil Joshi at the stroke of tea.Until then, Kaul had stood out as a complete contrast to his team-mates. He was resolute in defense, the feet didn’t back away from the stumps in anticipation of short deliveries, and the judgment of his offstump was impeccable. He cut and flicked Joshi for boundaries, on drove the seamers when they rarely bowled a full length and dealt mainly in singles with his nudges and pushes.Karnataka continued to make inroads after tea, courtesy Joshi, who was heading towards a cheap five-wicket haul. However, Punjab showed some spine at the end of the day. They were helped by the seamers, who seemed have fallen in love with the idea of bowling short, even though they were tired and unable to get the ball to lift to uncomfortable heights. The short balls, devoid of pace and potency, kept coming and Bhalla, who was dropped on zero by Robin Uthappa off Vinay Kumar and later on 25 by S Aravind who spilled a sharp return catch, looted some quick runs with pull shots to move past his fifty.

Nimbus Communications, one of India’s leading television marketing companies, has been awarded rights to India’s home domestic and international games for four years

Cricinfo staff15-Jan-2010Nimbus Communications, one of India’s leading television marketing companies, has been awarded rights to India’s home domestic and international games for four years. Nimbus and the BCCI had, in October, entered an agreement valued at approximately Rs.2000 crore (US$436 million), for a minimum of 64 international matches and 312 days of domestic cricket until 2014. The deal has now been finalised, following Nimbus furnishing a bank guarantee for the agreement amount to the BCCI.Shashank Manohar, the president of the BCCI, said: “The BCCI is pleased to extend its partnership with Nimbus by entering into this agreement till 2014. Nimbus has been the BCCI’s Global Media Rights partner since 2006 and has, in this period, licensed our events for broadcast to hundreds of millions of cricket fans worldwide.”Nimbus also held the broadcasting rights for the previous four years, for which it paid US$612 million – subsequently negotiated to US$549 million – in February 2006.

England completed their warms-up for Sunday’s first ODI by easing to a comfortable seven-wicket win against the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI at Fatullah

Andrew Miller in Fatullah25-Feb-2010England XI 155 for 3 (Cook 51, Prior 64*) beat BCB XI 151 for 8 (Alauddin 43*) by seven wickets

ScorecardRyan Sidebottom is congratulated after taking a wicket•Getty Images

England completed their warm-ups for Sunday’s first ODI by easing to a comfortable seven-wicket win against the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI at Fatullah. In a rain-reduced contest, the result was never in doubt after England’s bowlers reduced their opponents to 80 for 7 inside the first 22 overs of the match. An eighth-wicket stand of 55 between Tanvir Haider and Alauddin Babu ensured a reasonably competitive total of 151 for 8, but the target was knocked off with 11.4 overs remaining.Alastair Cook did the damage at the top of the order, easing to 52 from 51 balls before retiring at 81 for 1, whereupon Matt Prior – relieved of the gloves to give Craig Kieswetter a chance to show the full range of his abilities – did his best to keep his own place in the starting XI with an unbeaten 64. Prior did, however, survive in peculiar circumstances shortly before the conclusion of the match, when he holed out to deep midwicket for 51, only for the umpire to call dead-ball, apparently because of some interfering music from the stands.Genuine alarms were few and far between for England’s batsmen, although Kevin Pietersen missed out on time in the middle for the second match running. He was promoted to open after his controversial first-ball duck on Tuesday, but managed just 6 before slashing Babu to Junaid Siddique at slip. Eoin Morgan was the other man to fall, as he sized up a reverse sweep off Mahmudul Hasan, and was bowled for 9.After torrential overnight rain, the match began more than two hours behind schedule, with the overs reduced to 37 per side. When the BCB XI top-order collapsed to Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Bresnan, it seemed that the recalculation would be immaterial. But Haider instilled a measure of calm with a well-constructed 35, before Babu cracked five late boundaries to top-score with 43 and give the innings some respectability.Sidebottom made the first breakthrough when Shahriar Nafees prodded a simple chance to Bresnan at mid-on, only two balls after his opening partner, Siddique, had been put down at second slip by James Tredwell. Siddique was unable to make his good fortune count, however, as Tredwell soon made amends to give Bresnan his first wicket of the innings.Aftab Ahmed has a hard-hitting reputation, and he briefly thrilled a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd by clobbering Sidebottom over square leg for six, before belting Bresnan straight back down the ground. But in the same over, he nibbled outside off, to give an easy catch to Kieswetter behind the stumps.One over later, and Imtiaz Hossain missed a straight one from Sidebottom to be pinned lbw for 0, leaving the hopes of the innings in the hands of Raqibul Hasan. He responded cautiously at first, picking off the singles to reach 19 from 39 balls, in a 28-run stand for the fifth wicket with Mahmudul Hasan.But Liam Plunkett lured Raqibul into a poked edge to the keeper, before Tredwell’s offspin accounted for two wickets in three overs – Mahmudul chipped a soft catch to Luke Wright at midwicket, before Mashrafe Mortaza, whose arrival was greeted with the biggest roar of the day, dampened the spirits of the crowd by holing out to Plunkett at long-on for a third-ball duck.A spirited performance from Alauddin and Haider at least gave the BCB a nominal total to defend. Haider batted sensibly in a 55-ball stay, before aiming a wild heave at Shahzad only for Cook to make good ground with a low take at wide mid-on. Alauddin, whose only half-chance came when Kieswetter was slow to react to a top-edged pull off Bresnan, then carried his team past 150 with a handful of lusty blows.

Mark Greatbatch, the New Zealand coach and selector, has backed Peter Ingram to hold his place for this week’s first Test against Australia

Brydon Coverdale in Wellington15-Mar-2010Mark Greatbatch, the New Zealand coach and selector, has backed Peter Ingram to hold his place for this week’s first Test against Australia despite his axing from the one-day team. Ingram’s lack of footwork was exposed by Australia’s fast men in the ODI series and he was cut for the final match.The inclusion of the veteran top-order batsman Mathew Sinclair in the 13-man Test squad raised the possibility that Ingram would lose his place in the five-day side, but the selectors will give him another chance. Ingram’s only Test appearance came in the win over Bangladesh in Hamilton, where he made 42 and 13, and he will need to lift against Australia.”Peter Ingram, the last three years in domestic cricket, has averaged 60,” Greatbatch said on Monday. “That’s where he has really excelled, in domestic cricket, and obviously the test is to jump up. He’s had one Test against Bangladesh.”The core group of this squad has been involved in the last four Test matches with Pakistan [and Bangladesh], and we’ve won two of them, drew one and lost one. We want to give those opportunities to those players and Peter to show his skills at the highest level.”Greatbatch said Sinclair, 34, was unlikely to add to his 32 Tests during this series unless there was an injury in the batting line-up. Sinclair has not played a Test since March 2008 but has remained in terrific form at domestic level and this season has scored 638 Plunket Shield runs at an average of 58.”Mathew, 18 months ago, had an opportunity previously with five or six Test matches and it didn’t quite work out for him,” Greatbatch said. “At the time, the selectors said they were going to look at some other players. Time always moves on for everybody but Mathew has been in good form for the last year and a half, two years.”He’s the cover top-order batter for the Tests, so unless there’s an injury he won’t play, but it’s nice to have him back in the environment. He’s experienced, he’s mature and he’s got competitive juices so that’s what we’re going to require against these guys.”The top order of Tim McIntosh, BJ Watling and Ingram lacks Test experience and the New Zealanders will be keen to reinstate Jesse Ryder to the side as soon as possible. Ryder is on the recovery path after having surgery in February to reinforce his abdominal wall after suffering groin problems, and the New Zealand management team will keep a close eye on him over the next week.”He’s in the process,” Greatbatch said of Ryder’s recovery. “He’s got a bit of a plan. He’s played two days of club cricket and it’s gone well. Obviously we need to wait and see whether he’s fit this week. He’s actually coming down to training over the next few days to be involved and just see where he’s at.”For the time being, New Zealand will have to rely on a top three who between them have played 14 Tests. The most experienced of those men, the opener McIntosh, has played 11, but standing up to Mitchell Johnson, Doug Bollinger and the rest of the Australian attack will be a new challenge.”I haven’t faced any of them,” McIntosh said. “Any confrontation when you face a new Test bowler is one you look forward to. I know all the guys are chomping at the bit.”

Steven Smith’s third Sheffield Shield century for the summer put New South Wales in the prime position to take first-innings points against Tasmania

Cricinfo staff04-Mar-2010Tasmania 6 for 173 (Doolan 100, Copeland 4-26) trail New South Wales 6 for 468 (Smith 177, Jaques 88, Forrest 62) by 295 runs

ScorecardSteven Smith’s century put New South Wales in control•Getty Images

Steven Smith’s third Sheffield Shield century for the summer put New South Wales in the prime position to take first-innings points against Tasmania. Alex Doolan brought up his second first-class hundred but was a lone fighter for the Tigers, who closed the day 295 runs behind with only four wickets in hand.The star of the day was Smith, who reached triple-figures with a boundary over midwicket from his 197th ball. Once he had passed the milestone, Smith lifted the tempo and struck his next 77 from 50 deliveries, finishing with five sixes in the 177 that was his best first-class score.When Smith skied a catch to mid-on, the New South Wales captain Stuart Clark called an end to the innings at 6 for 468 and Tasmania’s reply didn’t start well. Trent Copeland had the opener Rhett Lockyear lbw for 1 and he grabbed another three wickets to finish the day with terrific figures of 4 for 26 from 19 overs.Daniel Marsh (29) and Ed Cowan (22) were the only other batsmen besides Doolan to reach double-figures and at stumps James Faulkner was on 1 with Xavier Doherty on 4. Doolan’s 100 ended when he was lbw to Mitchell Starc but it continued a breakthrough season for Tasmania’s No. 3, who has made 612 runs this summer.

The third day was a hard one for all the New Zealand bowlers but their ageing spearhead Chris Martin has reason to feel concerned

Brydon Coverdale in Hamilton29-Mar-2010The third day was a hard one for all the New Zealand bowlers but their ageing spearhead Chris Martin has reason to feel concerned. The youthful Tim Southee picked up two early wickets and the newcomer Brent Arnel grabbed a couple later in the day but Martin earned none while leaking runs at a greater rate than any of his colleagues.While fast men are entitled to occasional days of difficulty, the worry for New Zealand is that such days are becoming too frequent for Martin. In this series Australia’s batsmen have found his lines predictable and he has taken 1 for 260. Notably, he was the last of the specialist bowlers to whom Daniel Vettori handed the ball on the third day.”It was tough for our seamers,” Brendon McCullum said. “We don’t have that out-and-out pace of some attacks and we need more assistance from the wicket. They did a reasonable job. Tim Southee continued to bowl well; Brent Arnel came back with that second new ball and did a really good job.”It was disappointing for Chris, he probably wasn’t at his best but they attacked him and put him under pressure. For a guy who’s played 50-odd Test matches I’m sure he’ll come back and respond next time.”The problem for Martin is ensuring there is a next time. At 35, a man who offers nothing with the bat or in the field has no option but to take wickets, and an average of 41.14 over the past year is not an adequate return. New Zealand’s next Test tour is not for six months, when they are scheduled to visit Bangladesh, and by then injuries should not be a barrier to choosing Daryl Tuffey, Kyle Mills or Andy McKay.Arnel has shown promise in his first series, nibbling the ball around in both games, and he was nominated by the centurion Simon Katich as the pick of the bowlers on the third day. Southee might not have played this Test but for Tuffey’s injury, yet highlighted his potential with four first-innings wickets and a couple more on the third morning when he bowled to an inventive plan from Vettori.Shane Watson was the first to fall for a well-laid trap, when he pulled Southee straight to the man at deep midwicket. But the masterstroke was the plot to remove Ricky Ponting, who walked out to see the leg-side field stacked, was targeted on his pads and duly clipped the ball straight to short-leg, where BJ Watling held an excellent catch.”It wasn’t something we worked on overnight, just the fact Tim was bowling really well and getting a bit of tail,” McCullum said of the Ponting plan. “We discussed it and it seemed like the right thing to do. It probably wasn’t how we thought we would get him out, but you’ve got to be a bit proactive and try to get in front of the game and hope that things happen.”Unfortunately for the hosts, not much happened for them after the Ponting dismissal as Katich and Michael Hussey built a 155-run partnership and the lead swelled to 300 with six wickets in hand by the close of play. However, McCullum said New Zealand had not given up hope of rattling through the Australian lower order to take a declaration out of Ponting’s hands.”We’re two wickets away from bowling at their bowlers and we saw in the first innings there’s no reason why we can’t run through that bottom order,” he said. “For us the key is to get those first two wickets, and if we do that relatively early then I see no reason why we couldn’t bowl them out and still have the game in our control.”For that to happen, they will need contributions from their best bowlers. There is still room for Martin to stand up and show the skills that have earned him 181 Test wickets, but his time to lift is rapidly running out.

Bangladesh A succumbed to their second consecutive defeat in the tri-series, falling short by 29 runs against West Indies A in Mirpur

Cricinfo staff08-May-2010
Scorecard
Bangladesh A succumbed to their second consecutive defeat in the tri-series, falling short by 29 runs against West Indies A in Mirpur. West Indies were boosted by half-centuries from Darren Bravo and Brendan Nash which helped take their team to a competitive 259 for 7. The pair added 84 for the third wicket, and some attacking batting at the death from Imran Khan took West Indies past 250.Bangladesh were well placed for much of their innings, opener Nazimuddin leading the way with an 86-ball 89, comprising 13 fours. He was supported by captain Shamsur Rahman, with whom he added 84, while Raqibul Hasan and Marshall Ayub scored 46 and 43 respectively to keep the chase on track. At 176 for 3 in the 35th over, Bangladesh had the upper hand but two quick wickets in successive overs for one run pegged them back.Ayub fought hard, batting with the lower order, but when he fell with the score on 230 to make it nine down, West Indies had the game covered. Seamer Nelon Pascal starred for them, taking four wickets to trigger Bangladesh’s slide after they had threatened to scale down the target.

West Indies captain Chris Gayle pulled no punches in his assessment of the team’s failings, after they lost to South Africa by one run in the second Twenty20 international.

Cricinfo staff21-May-2010Chris Gayle, the West Indies captain, has questioned the batsmen’s mindset following his team’s one-run defeat in the second Twenty20 international against South Africa in Antigua. Gayle said they “have to look into themselves and try and redeem themselves as quickly as possible” after losing the series 2-0.”It is a pressure situation,” Gayle said. “The mindset is just not right. They’re maybe a bit too worried about the position.”South Africa finished with a modest 120 for 7 but West Indies struggled from the start, losing Gayle for a duck, and the rest of the batsmen never quite got going. With 15 needed from the final over, Darren Sammy managed two boundaries, including an all-run four thanks to some loose fielding, but Ryan McLaren held his nerve to leave West Indies a run short.”It’s blatant,” Gayle said. “It’s not right. We need to have discussions on it. The guys need to free up and go out there with a free mind to play some good cricket. We should have won that game…no doubt about it. To chase 120 runs, I don’t see why we shouldn’t get it, but we didn’t get it.”It was the second straight game in which the West Indies batsmen failed to perform. On Wednesday, they lost by 13 runs chasing 137 to win.”It’s very disappointing but credit must go to the bowlers. I thought they bowled well on an on-and-off pitch,” Gayle said. “In the end we allowed the run-rate to climb up a bit too much. We should have tried to take a few more chances.”He denied experience was the problem, saying, “We have quite a few experienced guys in the team, guys who have been in big situations before. Experience is not a problem.”The problem, according to him, lay with individual players, who need to start taking responsibility for their performances. “It’s up to the individual. They have to look into themselves and try and redeem themselves as quickly as possible. I can’t do it for them. I have a lot to think about as well. It is up to the individuals to try and get over these situations as quickly as possible.”In contrast, South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith was full of praise for his team’s ability to keep calm in the clutch, although he couldn’t resist a wry comment on the team’s history of coming up short in high pressure situations.”It was a bit tense at the end so we had to find somebody to remain calm, and Ryan kept a good sensible head, although we had a few guys running all over the place. It was an exciting finish, and nice again to get over the line,” he said. “We have performed well enough in tense situations like this before, although our record in such situations in competition play is quite poor, but we have performed really well again under pressure in a game that we probably shouldn’t have won, so it’s to our credit, and the confidence is definitely growing.”